by Wex, Michael
Notes
INTRODUCTION: Don’t Be a Shmuck
“I’ve got this thing”: “Excerpts Paint a Sordid Picture,” The Globe and Mail, December 10, 2008, p. A14.
ONE: What’s a Shmuck?
“A combination of fool”: Max Weinreich, Di Geshikhte fun der Yidisher Shprakh, vol. 4, p. 318.
“The real exile of Israel”: Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, vol. 2, p. 315.
“There was once a prince”: A. J. Heschel, Kotsk: In Gerangl far Emesdikayt, pp. 206–7.
TWO: What’s a Mentsh?
“Having been told of a man who died”: Y. K. Kadish, Siakh Sarfey Koydesh, vol. 2, p. 27.
“If a boy is Bar Mitzvah”: Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog, Life Is with People: The Culture of the Shtetl, p. 352.
“The professional rabbi”: I. A. Agus, “Rabbinic Scholarship in Northern Europe,” in Cecil Roth, ed., The Dark Ages: Jews in Christian Europe, 711–1096, pp. 189–90.
“A Iew wolde noght se”: William Langland, Will’s visions of Piers Plowman, do-well, do-better, and do-best /Piers the Plowman, George Kane and E. Talbot Donaldson, eds., passus ix, 84–90.
THREE: Extending the Shmuck
“Stiffed us…for the helicopter bill”: http://www.thirteen.org/sci-enceandnature/ethics-criminals-and-mt-everest-panel-discussion, retrieved October 30, 2008.
FOUR: What a Mentsh Does
“Rabbi Leib Dimimles”: Louis I. Newman, The Hasidic Anthology, p. 127.
Yekhiel-Meir of Gostynin: Y. K. Kadish, Siakh Sarfey Koydesh, vol. 2, p. 103.
A better Hasidic story: Ibid., p. 104.
Almost as sartorial: Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, vol. 1, p. 128.
“Justice, justice”: Kadish, Siakh Sarfey Koydesh, vol. 1, p. 129.
“His wife was meeting him”: The Apartment, screenplay on IMDB, http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Apartment,-The.html.
“DR. DREYFUSS: I don’t know”: Ibid. I’ve omitted stage directions, preserved original spelling of mentsh, and the typo in its second occurrence.
“[The Baal Shem Tov]”: A. J. Heschel, Kotsk: In Gerangl far Emesdikayt, p. 37.
“Derekh erets, good manners”: Y. Y. Artan, Sefer Emes ve-Emunoh, p. 44.
“There is a line”: Heschel, Kotsk, p. 34.
FIVE: How to Do It Like a Mentsh
“Two neighbours came”: Joseph Jacobs, “The Fables of Aesop” retrieved online at http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/jacobs/54.htm.
There’s a story: B. Parnes (Mordkhe Mishkin), Fun der rabonisher velt, pp. 53–54.
“A poor man asked”: Louis I. Newman, The Hasidic Anthology, pp. 438–39.
“There are exceptions to rules”: Lawrence Kohlberg, Essays on Moral Development, Vol. I: The Philosophy of Moral Development, p. 39.
“He must be a complete man”: Raymond Chandler, “The Simple Art of Murder,” in The Simple Art of Murder, pp. 20–21.
“By arbitrarily relating”: Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect, p. 144.
“Mrs. Elliott told her class”: Ibid.
In an experiment to measure hypocrisy: All information on this experiment is taken from Piercarlo Valdesolo and David DeSteno, “Moral Hypocrisy: Social Groups and the Flexibility of Virtue,” Psychological Science 18 (2007) : 689–90.
“Participants were told”: All quotations and information on this experiment from Piercarlo Valdesolo and David DeSteno, “The Duality of Virtue: Deconstructing the Moral Hypocrite,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44(5)(2008) : 1334–38.
“The movie, as everyone knows”: Roger Ebert, Review of Groundhog Day, at http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050130/REVIEWS08/501300301/1023.
Bibliography
Artan, Y. Y. Sefer Emes ve-Emunoh. Jerusalem: no publisher, 1972.
Bernstein, Ignaz. Jüdische Sprichwörter und Redensarten (rpt). Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1969.
Buber, Martin. Tales of the Hasidim. Two volumes. New York: Schocken, 1947–1948.
Chandler, Raymond. The Simple Art of Murder. New York: Ballantine Books, 1980.
Ebert, Roger. Review of Groundhog Day. Rogerebert.com. December 28, 2008. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050130/REVIEWS08/501300301/1023.
“Ethics, Criminals and Mt. Everest Panel Discussion.” Thirteen WNET New York. October 30, 2008. http://www.thirteen.org/scienceandna-ture/ethics-criminals-and-mt-everest-panel-discussion.
“Excerpts Paint a Sordid Picture.” Globe and Mail, December 10, 2008, A14.
Heschel, A. J. Kotsk: In Gerangl far Emesdikayt. Tel Aviv: ha-Menora, 1973.
Jacobs, Joseph. “The Fables of Aesop.” Aesopica: Aesop’s Fables in English, Latin & Greek. October 12, 2008. http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/jacobs/54.htm.
Kadish, Y. K. Siakh Sarfey Koydesh. Three volumes. Bnai Brak: Gitler Brothers, 1989.
Kane, George, and E. Talbot Donaldson, eds. Piers Plowman: The B version; Will’s visions of Piers Plowman, do-well, do better and do-best. London: Athlone Press, 1975.
Kohlberg, Lawrence. The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981.
Newman, Louis I. The Hasidic Anthology. New York: Schocken, 1963.
Parnes, B. (pseud., Mishkin, Mordkhe). Fun der rabonisher velt. New York: Star Hebrew Book Company, 1928.
Roth, Cecil, ed. The Dark Ages: Jews in Christian Europe, 711–1096. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1966.
Valdesolo, Piercarlo, and David DeSteno. “Moral Hypocrisy: Social Groups and the Flexibility of Virtue.” Psychological Science 18 (2007) : 689–90.
—————. “The Duality of Virtue: Deconstructing the Moral Hypocrite.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44(5)(2008) : 1334–38.
Weinreich, Maks. Di Geshikhte fun der Yidisher Shprakh. Four volumes. New York: Yidisher Visnshaftlikher Institut, 1973.
Wilder, Billy, and I. A. L. Diamond. The Apartment. The Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb). January 2, 2009. http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Apartment,-The.html.
Zborowski, Mark, and Elizabeth Herzog. Life Is with People: The Culture of the Shtetl. New York: Schocken, 1971.
Zimbardo, Philip. The Lucifer Effect. New York: Random House, 2008.
Searchable Terms
Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.
Aaron of Karlin, 141–43
Abarbanel, Isaac, 102–3, 137
abi gezunt (“as long as you’re healthy”), 3
Abraham, 85–86
Adam and Eve, failure to accept responsibility, 65–70
adonailadoshem, 9
adultery avoiding inflicting shame and, 83–94
intent and guilt, 51–52
Aesop, on envy, 136
Agus, I. A., 42–43
Akiva, Rabbi, 141, 146
aleph, 21–22
ambition, rechanneling evil and, 116–17
amorets (ignoramus), 97–100
Anatomy of Melancholy (Burton), 136
anger attempts to make Hillel angry, 143–51
Bar Kamtso story and, 74–79, 93–95
usefulness of, 115–16
vengeance, grudges and, 81–82
Animal House (film), 176
animals, kindness to, 139–41
anoshim, 96–100
Apartment, The (film), 118–23
Aristotle, 134
Ashkenazic Jews, 31, 36
“as long as you’re healthy” (abi gezunt), 3
Baal Shem Tov, 116, 144–45
“Ballad of a Thin Man” (Dylan), 17
Bar Kamtso. See Kamtso and Bar Kamtso
Bar Mitzvah, 26
Bible, Old Testament
Deuteronomy, 33, 139
Ecclesiastes, 24
Exod
us, 137
Genesis, 38, 66, 68, 69, 70, 84, 85
Isaiah, 168
Job, 67
Joshua, 124
I Kings, 27–28, 29
Leviticus, 27, 42–43, 67, 79, 143
Numbers 20, 33–34
Proverbs, 6, 115, 139
Psalms, 59, 90, 127, 168
Bible, New Testament
Luke, 157
Matthew, 157
Blagojevich, Rod, xx
Bontshe Shvayg (Silent Bontshe) character, 14–15
Bor, “I want” and, 97–100
bride stories requests and giver’s self-awareness, 141–43
telling truth about appearance, 91–92
Burton, Robert, 136
Cain and Abel, jealousy and, 70
Cancer Schmancer (Drescher), 4
capital punishment, 140–41
Chandler, Raymond, 161–62
Chanina, Rabbi, 131–33
Chaucer, 7
cheating not getting caught and, 129–30 in speech, 67–68
childhood growth of idea of mentsh and, 26–29
traditional Jewish view of, 24–26
Chiya bar Ashi, Rabbi, 51–52, 87
Chofets Chayim (Who Desires Life) (Kagan), 89
circumcision, importance in Jewish life, 8–9
cognitive restraint, Hillel’s maxim and, 167–71
Come Blow Your Horn (Simon), xviii
community, Judaism and, 30–35, 42–48, 90–91
Confessio Amatis (Gower), 135
consideration, learning in marriage, xviii–xix
courage
to change from schnook, 118–23
to focus outside oneself, 123–28
to resist evil, 111–14
De Niro, Robert, 17
DeSteno, David, 165–168
detective, Chandler’s description of ideal, 161–62
Di Uzida, Samuel, commentary on Ovos, 101–2, 111–13, 115–17
Drescher, Fran, 4
Dylan, Bob, 17
Ecclesiastes Rabbo, 25, 144
education, idea of mentsh rooted in, 29–30, 104–5
Eidels, Samuel (Maharsho), 73
Eikho Rabbo, 74, 82
Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi, 34, 50, 140, 141
elohim/elokim, 9
embarrassment. See shame
enemies, treatment of, 33–35, 137–43
enoysh 27
envy, evil and, 134–37
esreg, 109–10 evil
envy and, 134–37
human nature and need for Hillel’s maxim, 129–43
subduing one’s inclination to do, 111–14
Faivel of Grojec, 116
Gates of Penance (Gerondi), 87–88
Genesis Rabbo, 50–51, 60, 68, 143
Gerondi, Jonah, 87–88
Geyver, 27
God, prohibition against saying name, 8–10
Golden Rule, Hillel’s maxim contrasted with, 151–71
golem, 59–64
“Good for the Jews,” 30–31
Gower, John, 135
Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language, The, 21–22
Groundhog Day (film), 172–77
grudges, differ from vengeance, 81–82
guests, mitzvahs and, 108–9
Guide for the Perplexed (Maimonides), 87, 88
Gwenn, Edmund, 6
halacha, xv, 160
Harkavy, Alexander, 20–21
Henoch of Alexander, 15
Heschel, A. J., 115
Hillel the Elder, 96–100, 128
background of, 137, 153–54
Hillel’s maxim
contrasted to Golden Rule, 151–71
evil and humans’ need for, 129–43
Hillel’s demonstration of, 143–51
personal learning and improvement and, 171–78
History of the Yiddish Language (Weinreich), 11
hypocrisy, experiment to measure, 165–68
identification, with another, 156
improvement, learning and mentsh-hood, 171–78
ironic questions, 105–8
Isaac of Warka, 116
ish/isho
anoshim, 96–100
defined, 27–28
knowledge and, 96, 100, 103
Isserles, Moses, 36
Jacob, Joseph, 136 jealousy
Adam and Eve and, 69
Cain and Abel and, 70
Jacob’s brothers and, 70–71
rechanneling of evil and, 116–17
Joseph and his brothers, 70–71
Joshua ben Levi, Rabbi, 37–38
Judaism
based on consensus, not decree, 35–38
collective guilt and, 30–31
community and, 30–35, 42–48, 90–91
prohibitions and, 49–52
purpose of ritual practices, 38–48
right act for wrong reason, 52–58
traditional view of childhood, 24–26
Kaddish, 35, 48
Kagan, Yisroel Meyer, 89, 138
Kamtso and Bar Kamtso, 71–74, 96, 101
anger, vengeance and, 74–77, 93–95
Kapdan, 150
Karo, Rabbi Joseph, xv
kbilel ba-shem, 49
khnyok, 53–54
King of Comedy, The (film), 17
knowledge, use of, 96–103. See also study
Kohlberg, Lawrence, 149
kosher, 22–23
kosher khazer fisl (kosher little pig’s foot), 143
Kruschen, Jack, 122
Landau, Wolf, 109–10
landsmanshaften, 47–48
Langland, William, 45–46
Lansky, Aaron, 21–22
Laws Concerning the Misuse of Sacramental Objects. See Mishneh Torah
Lemmon, Jack, 119, 122
“Long Black Veil” (song), 93
loshn ho-ro (pseudo-truths), 89, 91–93
Lucifer Effect, The (Zimbardo), 163–64
MacDowell, Andie, 173
Madoff, Bernie, 116
Maharsho (Samuel Eidels), 73
Maimonides, Moses
on anger, 74–75, 115–16
on bor, 97
Maimonides, Moses (cont.)
on commandments, 49–50